Our little Mennonite is at it again! Considering the success of Rhoda Janzen’s memoir Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, Henry Holt and Co. is banking on a repeat performance with Janzen’s follow-up Backslide. After strong reviews from the gate, Mennonite has been an unexpected success putting up impressive numbers for both the Hope College professor and her publisher.

By definition, to backslide is to lapse morally or in the practice of religion; a fitting sequel title for those who have read Mennonite. According to PW’s Holt correspondent, Backslide picks up where Mennonite ends and follows Janzen’s journey back into the Pentecostal church and into “a tumultuous year which brings a new marriage, step motherhood and a bout of cancer.” The book is “about what happens when a backslider decides to slide back into religion.” Ms. Janzen’s sequel is slated to release in 2012.

If you haven’t read Mennonite in a Little Black Dress, it is hilarious…and very smart. If you missed it the first time around, you can catch my review on NLR with the following link: Mennonites and Potheads.